During the season 1998-1999, a seated masculine statue was discovered in the town of Ayn-Asil (Balat) in the sanctuary of the governor Medu-nefer. It is the first private statue found in a cult place other than a serdab. The statue exhibits certain details in common with that of Ima-Pepy from mastaba I at BAlat, in particular the presence of a cushion on the seat of the chair and the form of the chair's feet which are sculpted in the likeness of a lion's paws. Such details, lacking in memphite statuary, distinguish these two statues as very original documents. The stylistic and typological investigation of the statue of Medu-nefer does not in any way contradict the dating based on the archaeological context : the second third of the reign of Pepy II.